Greenhouse Learning Center to speed development of compostable packaging

Frito-Lay and Quaker have opened a Greenhouse Learning Center to field test, measure and analyze compostable packaging at PepsiCo’s research and development headquarters in Plano, Texas.

The center is a milestone in the PepsiCo Positive goal of designing 100% of packaging to be recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable by 2025, according to a news release.

“Our sustainable packaging vision is to build a world where packaging need never becomes waste,” Denise Lefebvre, senior vice president of R&D for PepsiCo, said in the release. “We’re actively changing our own compostable snack packaging technologies. By sharing these technologies, we’re inviting the industry to make these changes as well. We are prioritizing, investing in and expediting projects to build a more circular, inclusive economy.”

The R&D team will test the biodegradation properties of compostable packages in different environments to speed innovation and validate lab results with simultaneous, real-time experiments. The center aims to move packaging products from testing to certification-ready two to three times faster, according to the release.

Frito-Lay and Quaker released 100% commercially compostable chip bags in 2010.

“We look forward to leveraging key findings from the Greenhouse Learning Center, alongside our scale, reach, and expertise across North America and globally, to drive progress across our organization and the entire industry,” David Allen, chief sustainability officer for Frito-Lay and Quaker, said in the release. “We must work together to inspire positive change for the planet and people, and Frito-Lay and Quaker are proud to be leading the way.”